Orlando Shakes
West Side Story: Study Guide
Hey, enough frabbajabba about that stool pigeon, Daddy-O! Using the West Side Story study guide, scholars explore the language of the play and read about its historical associations and themes. Pupils also engage in a Spectrum of...
Learn NC
Buffalo Soldiers
"Stolen from Africa, brought to America,/Fighting on arrival, fighting for survival." Bob Marley's "Buffalo Soldiers" provides high schoolers an opportunity to explore the rich history of the Rastafarians in Jamaica and the Buffalo...
Curated OER
M.C. Bard: Hip-Hop and Shakespeare
What is poetry? Does hip-hop qualify as poetry? Do Shakespeare's monologues qualify as poetry? Class members grapple with these questions as they examine the poetic elements and themes presented in different texts. Groups of four study...
Curated OER
Poetry through Jazz, Rap, and Hip Hop
Students explore poetry through jazz, rap, and hip hop music. They discover the common threads that run through the poetry and music. Students design their own lyrics to a jazz, rap, or hip hop selection and share their songs with the...
Curated OER
SATIRE AND POLITICS
Students, after analyzing a satiric song written during the Prohibition era, illustrate how humor can be utilized as a political tool by writing satiric lyrics on a current political issue at the front of the news world today. They...
Curated OER
"Let's Write a Song"
Fourth graders brainstorm ideas that answer the question, "What is a song?" They determine the parts of a song, read lyrics, and listen to a song while identifying the chorus. They repeat the procedure with a new song before working in...
Curated OER
Music Video
Students explore songs that tell stories over various decades and create a Garage band track for their voice. In this story song lesson, students create a video for their song group. Students present a proposal to their...
Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
Songwriting Skill - Choosing a Tone: Jordan Pruitt - “One Love”
"Tone means attitude." Or so says this resource that uses Jordan Pruitt's "One Love" to model for songwriters how to develop an attitude in their lyrics. Class members engage in a number of exercises designed to give them direct and...
Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
Songwriting Skill - Finding Your Voice: The Academy Is - “About A Girl”
The seventh in a series of nine exercises focusing on songwriting models for young lyricists on how to find and develop their unique voice. Class members suggest songs that they feel sound authentic and contrast the wording with songs...
US Department of Health and Human Services
Learning Something New: How Does It Feel?
Use song and dance to help your youngsters identify their feelings and embrace learning. Starting with a brainstorming activity, class members talk about learning new things and how this made them feel. After listing to the song, and...
National Park Service
The Poet's Toolbox
If you need a lesson for your poetry unit, use two poems by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow ("Rain in Summer" and "The Slave in the Dismal Swamp") and a resource on Elements of Poetry. The lesson plan guides you through activities...
Azar Grammar
Song Lessons: Never, My Love
Here's a clever way to introduce language learners to noun clauses. After a brief exercise that provides examples of different types of noun clauses, class members listen to the Association's "Never, My Love" and identify the clauses in...
Curated OER
Connecting to Colonial Music
Young scholars listen to songs from the French and Indian War period. They answer questions about the song and identify any historical terms. They examine the role of music in their own lives.
Curated OER
Vocabulary Songs: Vocabulary Reinforcement Activity
Learners compose songs using vocabulary words. In this vocabulary activity, students are introduced to a new set of vocabulary words and their definitions. Learners collaborate in groups of three or four to write new lyrics to the tune...
Curated OER
Form and Theme in the Traditional Mexican Corrido
Students examine the traditional Mexican musical form of corridos. In this cross curricular history and music instructional activity, students analyze the lyrics of popular corridos and the corridos' importance in Mexican culture....
Curated OER
Understanding Past and Present Labor Injustice through Music
Pupils explore early 19th century labor conditions through the use of period songs. In this tolerance lesson, students listen to period songs and respond. Pupils write their own song that protests unfair and dangerous working...
Curated OER
Be An Incredible Songwriter
Students write songs about something incredible they have experienced or know about. They consider topics of events, dreams, ideas, feelings, or animals. They accompany themselves with small musical instruments while performing the songs...
Curated OER
Halloween Music Lesson Plans
Halloween music lesson plans can provide students a motivating way to learn about writing, dance, and rhythm.
Curated OER
Space Exploration
Sixth graders identify and interpret the following: What is space?, Space Race, Living in space?, Man on the Moon, Astronaut training; students compare/contrast US and Russia space exploration. Students write a letter of application to...
Curated OER
Musical Makeover
Learners explore the importance of folk music is various ethnic cultures.
Curated OER
Understanding Story Elements-Who, What, Where
Learners create a rap using story details. In this creative writing lesson, students examine the use of rap lyrics to list important details of stories. They view a video example, and use their notes to create their own raps...
Curated OER
French 101: A Musical Introduction
Bonjour! Comment ça-va? Introduce your language learners to French by playing the song "Parce Qu'on Vient de Loin." They attempt to describe what the song says and learn some basic French greetings like bonjour, au revoir, je m'appelle,...
Curated OER
Songs That Bring Us Together
Students listen to the song, Get Together, and discuss the theme. They list topics that bring people together, write the lyrics to and sing a class song, and write a paragraph about message songs.
Curated OER
Robert Plant and Jimmy Page, The Minstrels
Students explore "Stairway to Heaven". In this music history lesson, students examine the music and lyrics of the Led Zeppelin song. Students compare the song to Renaissance madrigal music.